Side plate construction for railcar



July 21, 1970, E. w. HANNAH 3,521,575

SIDE PLATE CONSTRUCTION FQR RAILCAR I Filed No v. 29, 19 7 I -E FIB2 36Heme 427- A .J[.../ 4Za- 46a- 00. 4 40.

INVENTOR. ELWOOD w.. HANNAH e. z. 77 90 J ATTORNEYS United States Patent3 521 575 SIDE PLATE CONSTRUCTION FOR RAILCAR Elwood W. Hannah,Portland, 0reg., assignor to FMC Corporation, San Jose, Calif., acorporation of Delaware Filed Nov. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 686,398 Int. Cl.B61d 17/08 US. Cl. 105-409 9 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The uppersideplate of a railway boxcar is formed of two coextensive members, anupright plate and an inwardly turned substantially C-shaped channelwelded to the plate. These two members are secured to the Wall posts andcooperatively form a continuous, integral box section, between the endwalls of the car, with an inwardly extending horizontal roof supportflange.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention pertains to thegeneral field of railway equipment, and more particularly to thesidewall construction of boxcars in the area where the sideplate andside posts are interconnected at the intersection of the sidewalls andthe roof.

Railway boxcars have in the past employed side plates having Z-bars orvariations thereof secured to the upper end portions of the wall posts.Besides forming a load carrying member because the posts are supportedby and secured to the side sills, the sideplate and post structure formsan interconnection of the sidewalls and the roof.

In the doorway area the conventional Z-bar is usually reinforced withthe addition of another plate or angle member so as to form a boxsection over the doorway to lend strength to the unsupported part of thesideplate where the posts are omitted. Some boxcars may have doorwayopenings totaling nearly half the area of the sidewall. Because thesideplate is a load carrying member, various attempts at strengtheningthe sideplate without appreciably adding to its complexity or increasingits vertical dimensions are found in prior art patents. However, theelevation of the sideplate and its vertical dimension is somewhatlimited because of standard overall height regulations. It should alsobe noted that some special purpose boxcars require a taller than normaldoor. In present sideplate constructions, the maximum available verticalspace for the door will not accommodate the taller doors, and thesideplate cannot be altered for the taller doors.

With the advent of welded instead of riveted cars, it is important thatthe sideplate, side posts and sheathing assembly can be welded from oneside, or at least be capable of having the major portion of the weldsmade from one side of the assembly. A further consideration is thedesirability of minimizing the number of steps required in forming theparts prior to their assembly, notably the upper ends of the side postswhich in many present sidewall constructions require that the Z-posts beformed with an offset to form a flush juncture with the sideplate underthe sheathing. A related problem is the elimination of spacer memberswhich are sometimes required due to the fact that stock Z-sections forthe sideplate and posts do not form flush junctures because the postsare narrower than the sideplate.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The sideplate and side post structure of thepresent invention includes a sideplate assembly formed of only twomembers extending between the end walls of the cars and forming acontinuous welded box section. Only one 3,521,575 Patented July 21, 1970of the members is formed, as by braking, the other member being a flat,thick beam plate disposed on edge. The formed member is generallyC-shaped and has a horizontal leg, welded to and projecting outward fromthe beam plate, that corresponds to the flange to flange dimension of aZ-section side post so that the side posts do not require the usualoffset to form a flush outer junction beneath the wall sheathing wherethe posts and side plate assembly meet. The thus formed sideplate issubstantially less complex but stronger and more rigid than the knownZ-section sideplates. After the two sideplate members are weldedtogether, the assembly of side posts, sideplate and sheathing can bewelded from one side of the wall, thus eliminating turnover jigs andfacilitating rapid, economical construction. A special feature of thesideplate is that it accommodates taller than usual doors whileproviding an exceptionally strong horizontal stress member.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary explodedperspective of a known type of sideplate and side post construction fora railway boxcar.

FIG. 2 is a typical vertical section of the FIG. 1 structure inassembled relation.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary exploded perspective of the sideplate and sidepost construction of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a typical section of the FIG. 3 structure in assembledrelation.

DESCRIPTION OF TYPICAL PRIOR ART AND THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIGS. 1and 2 illustrate a prior art sideplate and side post assembly 20 whichis more or less typical of the relatively complex arrangementsheretofore necessary in the construction of a railway boxcar. Theassembly 20 includes a stock rolled-steel Zsection bar 24 having itscentral web 26 horizontal, its inner flange 28 extending verticallyupward, and its outer flange 30 extending downward for supporting theupper edge portion of the wall sheathing 32. The longitudinal edgeportion 34 of a roof 36'laps over and is secured to the flange 28 byrivets 38 or similar fasteners.

Vertical framing members which support the Z-section bar 24 comprise aplurality of Z-section sidewall posts 40 that extend upward from theside sill, not shown, and are in endwise abutting relation with theundersurface of the web 26. The posts 40 include parallel inner andouter legs 42 and 44, respectively, interconnected by an intermediateleg 46. In order for the outer surfaces 48 of the outer legs 44 to :beflush with the outer surface 50 of the Z-bar flange 30, the leg 44 isdeformed to offset the flange 44 inwardly as shown at 50. Thus formed,the posts 40 and the Z-bar flange 30 have coplanar outer suraces so thatthe sheathing 32 lies flat across their juncture. A disadvantage of thisconstruction is that the offsetting operation represents a significantpart of the production costs.

It should be noted that the lateral dimension of the deformed area ofthe posts 40 (FIG. 2) is less than the available space beneath theflange 26. Therefore, the inner vertical surface 52 of each post 40 liesoutward of the inner surface 54 of the Z-bar flange 28. These conditionscomplicate the doorway construction where the posts 40 are omitted, thereason for this is that the doorway opening must be reinforced, such asby a flat bar as shown in phantom outline at 56. The bar 56 extendsbeyond each end of the door opening and is secured to both the sideplateZ-section bar 24 and to the posts 40.

Therefore, individual intermediate spacers at 58 (FIG. 2) are requiredto bridge the gap between the posts 40 and the door reinforcement 56.The spacers at 58 and their installation represent another disadvantageof the conventional sideplate and post construction because the spacersobviously involve more cost and labor than if the posts 40 and Z-sectionbar 24 have coplanar inner surfaces. A further item which is necessaryis an additional member, such as an angle bar 60, welded to the bar 56and to the Z-bar 24 to form a box section over the open doorway area.The doorway area is known to be subject to high stress which frequentlyfractures the sideplate assembly, and the Z-bar 24 is formed into a boxSection to counteract such stress and prolong the life of the sideplateassembly.

It will be apparent from the preceding description of the conv ntionalsideplate and post construction shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, that theassembly is not very well adapted to eflicient manufacturing techniques.In fact, the conventional assembly of the general configuration is shownis more compatible with manual fitting and assembly than it is suited tomodern production line operations including automatic welding and theuse of interfitting parts which do not require offsets, spacers andauxiliary framing members.

The sideplate and post assembly 70 (FIGS. 3 and 4) of the presentinvention includes a flat beam 72 which is disposed on edge and spansthe distance from end wall to end wall of a railway boxcar. In a 60 footboxcar of 100 tons capacity, the beam 72 may be /2 inch wide and 6 /2inches high, except at the doorway opening where the lower edge portionof the beam is coped at 73 (FIG. 3) so that its lower edge is coincidentwith the dotted line at 74 (FIG. 4). While these dimensions are merelyexamples and can be varied, they are given to point out the fact thatthe height of the sideplate over the doorway opening in the presentinstance is significantly less than the corresponding height in theordinary sideplate construction.

Thus, for boxcars of the same overall height, the dimension X (FIG. 2)from the underside of the roof 36 to the top of the door opening beneaththe angle bar 60 is greater than a similar dimension Y, for the FIG. 4structure, between a roof 36a and the edge of the coped area at 74. Thesignificance of this is that the same height of doorway in railway carsof the same vertical dimensions will require cutting away andreinforcing the lower portion of the conventional sideplate structureshown in FIG. 2 to accommodate a door as high as can be used with thesideplate and post assembly 70, FIG. 4. As next described, thiscondition is achieved without impairing the strength of the sideplateand post assembly 70.

Coextensive with the beam 72 is a channel member 76 of substantiallyC-shaped cross section. The channel 76 is formed with a horizontal leg78 in endwise abutting engagement with the outer surface of the beam 72,a vertical leg 80 which is parallel to said surface, and an upwardlyinclined leg 82 which extends over the beam 72 and terminates in ahorizontal roof-supporting flange 84 to which the roof 36a is attachedby a continuous weld at 85. A continuous fillet weld at 86 secures theflange portion 84 to the beam 72, and a similar continuous weld at 88secures the leg 78 to the same beam; interconnected in this manner, thebeam 72 and channel 76 from a continuous box-section 90 which providessubstantial resistance to longitudinal fiexure of the thus formedsideplate assemply.

The welds 86 and 88 are formed simultaneously in an initial step whichcompletes the sideplate assembly. The sideplate is later placed in aweling jig where the wall posts, sheathing and sideplate are welded intoan integral sidewall from only one side of the welding jig. The roofweld 85 is the last welding operation, performed after the sidewalls areinstalled on a railcar.

The length of the horizontal leg 78 of the channel 76, plus thethickness of the plate stock from which the channel is formed, is equalto the corresponding dimension of a plurality of Z-section sidewallposts 40a. Therefore, the additive dimensions of parallel flanges 42aand 44a, plus an intermediate web 46a, makes the outer surface 92 (FIG.4) of each post 40w coplanar with the outer surface 94 of the channel 76for supporting the wall sheathing 320 without any deformation of theposts as is required in the conventional sideplate and post arrangementshown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

A further important feature is that the sideplate and post assembly 70allows for one-side welding; because the juncture of the posts 40a andthe channel 76 are accessible before the sheathing is applied, thesideplate and posts can be welded together in a horizontal Welding jigand completely sheathed from what is eventually the outer surface of thesidewall of the boxcar. In contrast to this capability of Welding thesidewall from only one side, the conventional sideplate and side postassembly 20 (FIG. 2) requires access to both sides, such as by means ofa turnover type of welding jig, or separate jigs for each side plusmanipulation by a crane to transfer the sidewall between the jigs.

From the foregoing disclosure, it will be seen that the sideplate andpost assembly 70 facilitates railcar production by requiring forming foronly the channel 76, by providing a sideplate comprising only twomembers that define a rigid box-section extending from end to end of thecar, by the capability of welding the overall assembly from only oneside, by eliminating the spacer blocks and reinforcements ofconventional constructions, and for other reasons obvious from thedisclosure.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent thatmodification and variation may be made without departing from what isregarded to be the subject matter of the invention as set forth in theappended claims.

Having completed a detailed description of the invention so that thoseskilled in the art could practice the same, I claim:

1. A sideplate for joining roof and sidewall members of a railway carthat serves as a heavy load carrying member, the sidewall memberscomprising vertical posts and thin sheathing, and the roof including athin plate, said sideplate comprising a beam extending between the endwalls of the car, and an inwardly directed generally C-shaped sectioncoextensive with and welded to said beam, said C-section including alower horizontal leg in abutting relation with said beam, a vertical legextending upwardly therefrom, and an inwardly extending leg overlyingthe top of the beam, said beam and said C-section being of substantiallygreater thickness than the roof and the side sheathing.

2. The sideplate of claim 1 wherein said beam is a flat elongate plate.

3. The assembly of claim 2 wherein the lower edge is upwardly coped inan area corresponding to a doorway so that the lower edge surface of thebeam in the coped area terminates in substantial horizontal alignmentwith the lower surface of the lower horizontal leg to provide a maximumoverhead clearance in the doorway of the railway car.

4. The sideplate of claim 1 wherein said inwardly extending leg inclinesupwardly from said vertical leg.

5. The sideplate of claim 3 wherein the inwardly extending leg extendsinwardly of said beam a sufficient distance to provide a roof-supportingflange and an inner overlapping joint for a continuous fillet weld.

6. The sideplate of claim 1 wherein the vertical posts of the sidwallare in supporting relation with the lower horizontal leg of saidchannel, the additive dimensions of said horizontal leg and thethickness of the vertical leg being the same as the inside to outsidedimension of the vertical posts so that the outer surface of said postsare coplanar with the outer surface of said vertical leg.

7. In a railway car having vertical sidewall posts between its endwalls, a sideplate comprising two coextensive elongate members, saidmembers resting on the vertical posts and supporting the roof from endto end of the railway car, said members being secured together andcooperatively defining a cross-sectional shape including a verticallyelongate beam lying inwardly of the vertical posts and a C-shapedchannel section, said channel section having a lower horizontal leg withits inner edge welded to said beam, said channel section having avertical leg and an inwardly and upwardly sloping leg merging with ahorizontal flange portion, said flange portion overlying and beingwelded to said beam, said beam and said C-shaped channel havingsubstantially greater thickness than the roof and side sheathing of therailway car.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said horizontal flange hasa terminal edge lying inwardly of the inner surface of said beam.

9. The sideplate of claim 7 wherein the outer vertical surface of saidvertical leg is spaced from said inner edge of said horizontal leg adistance equal to the dimension of the vertical posts.

References Cited ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner 20 R. A. BERTSCH,Assistant Examiner

